A wide metal inductor coil for magnetizing magnetic sources known as maxels into a magnetizable material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,179,219, issued May 15, 2012, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. This known wide metal inductive coil 114 is shown in FIGS. 1A-1B (PRIOR ART). The wide metal inductive coil 114 includes a first circular conductor 116a having a desired thickness and a hole 118a through it and a slotted opening 120a extending from the hole 118a and across the first circular conductor 116a to produce a discontinuity in the first circular conductor 116a. The wide metal inductive coil 114 further includes a second circular conductor 116b having a hole 118b and a slotted opening 120b extending from the hole 118b and across the circular conductor 116b to produce a discontinuity in the second circular conductor 116b. The first and second circular conductors 116a and 116b are designed such that they can be soldered together at a solder joint 122 that is beneath the first circular conductor 116a and on top of the second circular conductor 116b. Other attachment techniques other than soldering can also be used. Prior to the first and second circular conductors 116a and 116b being soldered together, insulation layers 124a and 124b are respectively placed beneath each of the circular conductors 116a and 116b. The insulation layer 124a is placed beneath the first circular conductor 116a so it does not cover the solder region 122 but otherwise insulates the remaining portion of the bottom of the first circular conductor 116a from the second circular conductor 116b. When the first and second circular conductors 116a and 116b are soldered together the insulation layer 124a between them prevents current from conducting between them except at the solder joint 122. The second insulation layer 116b beneath the second circular conductor 116b prevents current from conducting to the magnetizable material 130 (see FIG. 1B (PRIOR ART)). So, if the magnetizable material 130 is non-metallic, for example, a ceramic material, then the second insulation layer 116b is not needed. Moreover, if the magnetizable material 130 has generally insignificant conductive properties then the second insulation layer 116b is optional.
A first wire conductor 126 is soldered to the top of the first circular conductor 116a at a location next to the slotted opening 120a but opposite the solder joint 122. The second circular conductor 116b has a grove (or notch) 127 in the bottom of it which can receive a second wire conductor 128 that is then soldered to the second circular conductor 116b such that the bottom of the second circular conductor 116b remains substantially flat. Other methods can also be employed to connect the second wire conductor 128 to the second circular conductor 116b including placing the second wire conductor 128 into a hole drilled through a side of the second circular conductor 116b and then soldering the second wire conductor 116 to the second circular conductor 116b. As depicted in FIG. 1A (PRIOR ART), the second wire conductor 128 is fed through the holes 118a and 118b in the first and second circular conductors 116a and 116b and then through the groove (or notch) 127. Thus, when the two wire conductors 126 and 128 and the first and second circular conductors 116a and 116b are soldered together with the insulation layer 124a in between the two circular conductors 116a and 116b they form two turns of a coil. In this set-up, the current from the first conductor 126 can enter the first circular conductor 116a, travel clockwise around the first circular conductor 116a, travel through the solder joint 122 to the second circular conductor 116b, travel clockwise around the second circular conductor 116b and then out the second wire conductor 128, or current can travel the opposite path. Hence, depending on the connectivity of the first and second wire conductors 126 and 128 to the wide metal inductor coil 114 (magnetizing circuit 114) and the direction of the current received from the wide metal inductor coil 114 (magnetizer circuit), a South polarity magnetic field source or a North polarity magnetic field source are produced in the magnetizing material 130 (see FIG. 1B).
FIG. 1B (PRIOR ART) depicts a side view of a cross section of the wide metal inductor coil 114. A characterization of the magnetic field 119 (dashed lines) produced by the wide metal inductor coil 114 during magnetization illustrates that the wide metal inductor coil 114 produces a strong magnetic field 119 in the holes 118a and 118b, where the magnetizing field 119 is provided perpendicular (see dashed arrow) to the magnetizable material 130 being magnetized such that a North up or South up polarity magnetic source is printed into the magnetizing material 130. In other words, the magnetic dipole (magnetic source, maxel) has either a North or South polarity on the surface of the magnetizing material 130 and an opposite pole beneath the surface of the magnetizing material 130. Various improved wide metal inductor coils are described in U.S. Non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/895,589, filed Sep. 30, 2010, titled “System and Method for Energy Generation”, and U.S. patent Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/240,355, filed Sep. 22, 2011, titled “Magnetic Structure Production”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Referring to FIGS. 2A-2E (PRIOR ART), there are illustrated different aspects of an exemplary magnetic print head 141 (similar to wide metal inductor coil 114) for a maxel-printing magnetic printer. It should be understood that more or fewer parts than those described and/or illustrated may alternatively comprise the magnetic print head 141. Similarly, parts may be modified and/or combined in alternative manners that differ from those that are described and/or illustrated. For certain example embodiments, FIG. 2B (PRIOR ART) depicts an example outer layer 132 of the magnetic print head 141. The outer layer 132 may comprise a thin metal (e.g., 0.01″ thick copper) having a generally round or circular shape (e.g., with a 16 mm diameter) and having substantially one-fourth of the circular shape removed or otherwise not present. The outer layer 132 may include a tab 134 for receiving an electrical connection. The outer layer 132 may define or include at least part of a hole portion 135a that, when combined with one or more other layers 136 which has at least part of a hole portion 135b, results in a hole 121 (e.g., with a 1 mm diameter) being formed in an approximate center of the magnetic print head 141. As shown for an example implementation, the outer layer 132 may be formed at least partially from a substantially flat plate. An arrow is illustrated on the outer layer 132 to indicate that a current received from the tab 134 may traverse around a three-quarter moon portion of the outer layer 132. It should be noted that sizes, material types, shapes, etc. of component parts are provided by way of example but not limitation; other sizes, material types, shapes, etc. may alternatively be utilized and/or implemented.
For example implementations, a diameter of one or more of the layers 132 and 136 of the magnetic print head 141, which can also have a shape other than round (e.g., oval, rectangular, elliptical, triangular, hexagonal, etc.), may be selected to be large enough to handle a load of a current passing through the print head layers 132 and 136 and also large enough to substantially ensure no appreciable reverse magnetic field is produced near the hole 121 where the magnetic print head 141 produces a maxel (magnetic source) in the magnetizing material 130. Although the hole 121 is also shown to comprise a substantially circular or round shape, this is by way of example only, and it should be appreciated that the hole 121 may alternatively comprise other shapes including but not limited to, oval, rectangular, elliptical, triangular, hexagonal, and so forth. Moreover, a size of the hole 121 may correspond to a desired maxel resolution in the magnetizing material 130, whereby a given print head 141 may have a different sized hole 121 so as to print different sized maxels in the magnetizing material 130. Example diameter sizes of holes 121 in print heads 141 may include, but are not limited to, 0.7 mm to 4 mm. In addition, the diameter sizes of holes 121 may alternatively be smaller or larger, depending on design and/or particular application.
FIG. 2C (PRIOR ART) depicts an example inner layer 136 of the magnetic print head 141. The inner layer 136 may be similar to the outer layer 132, except that it does not include a tab (e.g., see outer layer's tab 134 in FIG. 2B (PRIOR ART)). As shown for an example implementation, current (see arrow) may traverse around the three-quarter moon portion of the inner layer 136.
FIG. 2D (PRIOR ART) depicts an example non-conductive spacer 138 for the magnetic print head 141. The spacer 138 may be designed (e.g., in terms of size, shape, thickness, a combination thereof, etc.) to fill a portion of the outer layer 132 and/or the inner layer 136 such that the layers 132 and 136 have a conductive and a non-conductive portion. In an example implementation, the outer and inner layers 132 and 136 may still provide complete circular structures such that if they are stacked, they have no air regions other than the central hole 121. The central hole 121 may also be filled with a magnetizable material. Although shown as occupying one-quarter of a circle, the spacer 138 may alternatively by shaped differently. If the spacer 138 is included in the design of the print head 141, then the assembled print head 141 would be more rigid and therefore more robust and/or stable to thereby increase its lifecycle.
FIG. 2E (PRIOR ART) depicts an example weld joint 140 between the outer layer 132 and the inner layer 136 with two spacers 138a and 138b. As shown for an example implementation, the outer and inner layers 132 and 136 may have portions 139a and 139b that overlap to form the weld joint 140. The weld joint 140 may comprise an area that is used for attaching two layers 132 and 136 via some attachment mechanism including, but not limited to, welding (e.g., heliarc welding), soldering, adhesive, any combination thereof, and so forth.
For an example assembly procedure, prior to attaching the two layers 132 and 136 that are electrically conductive, an insulating material (e.g., Kapton) may be placed on top of the outer layer 132 (and/or beneath the inner layer 136) so as to insulate one layer from the other. After welding, the insulating material may be cut away or otherwise removed from the weld joint 140, which enables the two conductor portions to be electrically attached thereby producing one and one-half turns of an inductor coil. Alternatively, an insulating material may be placed against a given layer 132 or 136 such that it insulates the given layer 132 or 136 from an adjoining layer except for a portion corresponding to the weld joint 140 between the two adjoining layers 132 and 136. During an example operation, an insulating material may prevent current from passing between the layers 132 and 136 except at the weld joint 140 thereby resulting in each adjoining layer acting as three-quarters of a turn of an inductor coil (e.g., of the print head 141) if using example layer designs as illustrated in FIGS. 2B-2C (PRIOR ART).
Although the aforementioned wide metal inductive coil 114 and the magnetic print head 141 work well it is still desirable to improve upon these components or at least how these components can be used in a different manner to form magnetizing magnetic sources (maxels) into a magnetizable material. Such improvements are the subject of the present invention.